Warped

Extra #4: Flowers

     A week had passed to the fated day that Sarada Uchiha would come over and learn Shosen. During that time, Hitoshi, Shinso, and Sakura had all received their paychecks and moved into a more modest apartment with enough bedrooms. Kei and Himari were both excited to finally have their own rooms.

     In that span of time, her coworkers became more open to Sakura, welcoming her in easily as one of their own. After all, none of them had seen someone so proficient in Medical Ninjutsu aside from Tsunade herself.

     Still, she declined outings of drinking with the excuse of her kids and husband. Sakura had purposefully dropped hints of her financial situation, so no one pressed her to go with them.

    On her way back home, Sakura bought three live fish and prepared scrolls to make a preservation seal on them. Once out of the water, the gill arches of the fish would close, causing the fish to no longer be able to breathe. Essentially, the fish would be in a state of being half-dead until shosen was applied.

     Both Hitoshi and Kaminari weren't home yet, but that was fine.

     The door burst open, and her children ran inside to greet her.

     "Mommy!" Himari exclaimed happily while flexing her right arm, "Today was taijutsu practice and I beat the shit out of the traitor!"

      Kei unwittingly smiled joyously when his sister said that, but quickly wiped the look off his face. "Himari, you know mom doesn't like it when you swear."

     "Says the one that was cheering me on."

     Noticing another Sakura signature that was still loitering around the door, the pinkette cleared her throat, "Now, now, you left poor Sarada-chan at the door."

     With a somewhat shy expression, she tentatively walked in. "My apologies."

      Sakura waved it off with an easygoing smile, "It's fine. Go ahead and take a seat. I've already prepared things ahead of time."

      After offering drinks, she began with the overall method and application. Providing tips that she learned from her quirk and what she discovered on her own, she watched them all try it on their own. She could tell that it was hard to shove out the chakra nature for them, but she was rather impressed with Sarada's progress.

    In the end, compared to her children who still couldn't do it, the Uchiha girl had an inkling of an idea of what to do. Although she wasn't quite at the point of producing it, she was about a fourth of the way there, which was prodigious.

     On the other hand, it took Sakura a "month" to be considered a genius. She had already known what to do from the start, but for Sarada to progress so quickly without a quirk...

     She blamed it on the Uchiha genes.

     Sarada left rather distressed that she couldn't achieve it but was cheered up when Sakura encouraged her of her talent. On the other hand, the other two didn't even make it past square one.

    Next, Kaminari waltzed in with a bouquet of primroses in his hand. He had a dopey smile on his face as he handed them to Sakura, giving her a small kiss on the cheek.

     "I made sure not to get evening primroses, "he stated proudly, "After all, I wouldn't want to be consistent, would I?"

     Sakura's eyebrow quirked up as she questioned, "You're learning the flower language?"

     "Of course. I can't live without you, Sakura."

     As romantic as it was, Sakura knew that Kaminari was told that... Whoever told him that probably recommended that he buy the primroses too. Still, she couldn't exactly get mad at him for that.

      "Who told you this?" she asked, rather curious on who he took advice from.

     "My boss, " he admitted with a sheepish laugh, "She's actually rather interested in meeting you."

      "She had good taste in flowers, " she commented, "What's her name?"

     He shook his head. "I'm not telling... She's going to a BBQ place later with some of her friends later. We could stop by?"

     "Absolutely not."

     He finally pulled out his secret weapon: puppy dog eyes. Although he never used them often, when he did, they had a critical effect.

     Feeling her resolve crumble, Sakura sighed, "Why do you want to go so bad?"

     Kaminari's face contorted into one of hurt. "She said that she couldn't believe that an idiot like me is married to someone."

     "What?"

     Had Kaminari been a dog, he would've been one with his ears drooping and a still tail.

     Sakura quickly gave in and searched through the scrolls that she had packed for the picnic. She had always packed extra clothes in case any got ripped, but also because she also cute clothes that she normally wouldn't wear. It was popular, wasn't it? To buy clothes that are cute, only to wear them because you don't want to ruin them.

      It was still simple with a black, sleeveless crop-top that met at a turtleneck, black cargo pants, and a pair of black ninja sandals. Although it didn't seem like much, carbon fiber was interwoven into the very fabric. All of her ninja items were put into her pant's pocket.

     "Let's go."

    It had never escaped her mind that she had connected the dots somewhat to Ino. However, since her suspicions weren't concrete, she held the hope that it wasn't her. Kaminari, on the other hand, had forgotten about Sakura's connection with Ino.

     Kaminari walked with her hand-in-hand to the restaurant. As they walked in, his eyes lit up as he saw his boss with two other individuals. Guiding Sakura, she felt her heart drop as she noticed their familiar faces.

    Stopping, she quickly yanked her husband back, but she had done so too late. Ino had already noticed Kaminari walking toward them.

     "What's wrong?" Kaminari asked her worriedly.

     "I know them... a little too well, " she hinted, hoping that he would realize the mistake he made.

     He paled but had no idea what to do. "God, I'm sorry, Sakura... I-"

     Taking a deep breath, she quickly focused on her facial expression. "No, it's alright. I just need to trick them."

     She was saying that, but she knew that one of the figures there would figure it out: Shikamaru. She'd have to pull him aside without raising suspicions.

    As the two walked forward, Sakura watched as their breathing hitched and faces look like as though they've seen a ghost.

     "I'm Sakura Kaminari, " she greeted with a smile, "I got flowers earlier, so I really wanted to thank the one that picked them out. It's nice to meet you all."

     Sometimes, Sakura really wished that her quirk didn't fix itself.